DENVER (KDVR) — On display now at History Colorado in downtown Denver is an exhibit highlighting the bombing of United Flight 629, and the stories of the 44 who died that night 70 years ago.
“The victims of United Flight 629; they weren’t just names on a list, as they often appear. They were human beings with complex lives and dreams and struggles,” said Jeremy Morton, exhibition developer and historian at History Colorado.
Morton has gathered mementos and artifacts that show the ripples of devastation after the plane exploded moments after takeoff from Stapleton Airport in Denver on Nov. 1, 1955.
“The artifact that sticks with me the most is a jacket that was sewn together by one of the victim’s wives, Marion Hobgood. His wife actually took his wedding suit jacket and sewed that into a smaller jacket for his two daughters. I think it just speaks so poignantly to the extreme grief that someone goes through when there’s a tragedy like this, that in order to deal with it, she was taking something that he wore that belonged to her and then transferring it to give her daughter something of their father, even though he was gone,” Morton told FOX31.
Also on display at the museum, an actual piece of the Douglas DC-6B that fell from the sky.
“And the part of the plane that we have is from the baggage area. And it shows where there had been an explosion,” said Michael Hesse, president of the Denver Police Museum.
It was in his mother’s suitcase that John Jack Gilbert Graham placed a bundle of dynamite and a timer that went off moments after the flight left Denver’s Stapleton Airfield, killing 44 people.
“The idea that somebody could do something like this is just kind of mind-boggling. And then you add in the fact that, you know, the goal is to kill your own mother and it’s just a horrific story that is kind of hard to wrap your head around,” Morton said.
The exhibit is less about that mass murderer than those he killed.
“I first became aware of this (tragedy) in 1982 when I was in high school. My dad was a cop, and we went to Washington, and we went to the FBI Museum, and the first display on the right was this,” said Hesse.
Hesse has made it his mission to give the victims of United Flight 629 the recognition they’ve deserved for the last 70 years.
“You know, you see the pictures of the victims and it’s sad. But as you begin to hear their individual stories and you meet their families, you kind of become emotionally attached to them,” Hesse said.
Working with volunteers, he’s researched the family trees of each of the victims and reached out to their loved ones, inviting them to Denver to dedicate the first-ever memorial to those killed perched near the control tower at Stapleton Airport. The dedication ceremony will take place on Saturday morning.
“The formal memorial will be in the shape of an airplane fuselage and it will be pointed northwest just as the plane was,” Hesse said.
The legacy of Flight 629 is so big it could never fit inside a museum display case. It was the first ever case of sabotage against a domestic passenger plane, and it changed everything about crime investigation and airport security.
“The legacy of United 629 is tighter airline security following the bombing. They’re going to have tighter restrictions as far as looking into luggage, looking into passengers, what they’re bringing on, what people are allowed to bring on, and so on,” Morton said.
And it changed how the media covers high-profile cases in courtrooms all around the country.
“The Colorado Supreme Court makes this ruling, the first of its kind in the whole country, that says cameras and video are allowed within the courtroom. ultimately leads to the rise of things like Court TV,” Morton said.
What happened in the sky over Colorado that night led to tangible changes in our day-to-day lives, even to this day. And it led to heartbreaking changes for more than 40 families.
“The pain that these families lived through should not be forgotten, and I hope that we remember the victims for more than just being people on a plane at a bad time,” Hesse said.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
